Connect with Us

National Register

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Program

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

The May Patterson Goodrum House is significant in the area of architecture under Criterion C at the state level of significance because it is an excellent example of English Regency-style architecture by master architect Philip Trammell Shutze, who is among the most important 20th-century architects in Georgia. In 1929, May Patterson Goodrum, recently widowed from Atlanta businessman James J. Goodrum, hired architect Shutze to design a house on five acres fronting West Paces Ferry Road. The house and landscaped grounds were completed in 1932. May Goodrum lived in the house until 1958 when she and her second husband, architect Francis Abreu, sold the property and moved to Sea Island, Georgia. Shutze studied at the Georgia School of Technology and Columbia University, won the Rome Prize, and attended the American Academy in Rome. In Atlanta, Shutze designed houses, inspired by Italian Renaissance villas for the city's wealthy elite. The Swan House, which he designed for the Inman family, features cascading fountains based on the Villa Corsini in Rome. Shutze also designed Henry Grady High School, renovations to Citizens and Southern Bank, and The Temple. Shutze based his design for the Goodrum house on the English Regency style, which flourished during the regency and reign of George IV from 1811 to 1830. The Regency style is characterized by rigid geometry, bay windows, stucco-covered exteriors, and historical eclecticism. In the Goodrum house, Shutze integrated architectural design with painting and sculpture.

Properties are listed in the National Register of Historic Places under four criteria: A, B, C, and D. For information on what these criterion are and how they are applied, please see our Bulletin on How to Apply the National Register Criteria